Tiltable furniture for rolling and caster means therefor



July 5, 1966 F. H. JACKSON 3,259,432

TILTABLE FURNITURE FOR ROLLING AND CASTER MEANS THEREFOR Filed Oct. 22, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 70 Jig 2 zorney July 5, 1966 F. H. JACKSON TILTABLE FURNITURE FOR ROLLING AND CASTER MEANS THEREFOR Filed Oct- 22, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n Tm W M? 7 W I fl 2 mu 3 eJ 5 MW l U I g 4 HM 5 6 W F 55 F tvi FL & w

United StatesPatent O 3,259,432 TILTABLE FURNITURE FOR ROLLING AND 'CASTER MEANS THEREFGR Fred H. Jackson, Atlanta, Ga., assignor to Wood Conversion (Iompany, St. Paul, Minn, a corporation of Delaware Filed Get. 22, 1963, Ser. No. 318,035 10 Claims. (Cl. 297354) The present invention relates to moving furniture, and in particular, to caster means for rolling a piece of furniture which normally rests non-rollingly on a floor. The invention is directed to structures which require the piece of furniture to be tilted to bring the caster means into rolling engagement with the floor; and in certain cases, to a locking structure which is normally not in locking position and which functions in locking position to permit the piece of furniture to be tilted.

The caster means of the present invention may be made initially as a component part of a piece of furniture, or it may be made to serve as an attachment.

Howsoever a piece of furniture sits on the floor, there is an outline of the supporting means, he the latter a planar base or four legs terminating in a plane. For this description the outline is herein referred to as a base and it is considered as having an edge on which the piece may be tilted, such edge being herein termed a tilting edge.

In principle, the present invention comprises caster means having a roller, and preferably two identical spaced rollers with their axes alined and parallel to said tilting edge. Each roller has mounting means secured to the furniture to locate the bottom of the roller a small distance above the plane of the base and a small distance outside the tilting edge. As a consequence, the piece of furniture is supported on the floor by its base, with the roller or rollers raised from the floor, so as to permit the piece to be tilted on said tilted edge. The said small distances are such that on a sufficient degree of tilting, the base may be slightly angled to the floor to bring the roller or rollers to the floor, then further tilted on the roller or rollers as the tilting axis, completely to lift the base from the floor and permit rolling the piece.

When the piece of furniture is a chair with rigid back the caster means is preferably mounted at the rear of the chair. When the chair has an unlocked movable back, such as some modern adjustable reclining chairs, a lock or stop may be attached to fix the back against movement in at least one direction when using the back to tilt the chair. An exemplary stop is herein illustrated.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a caster embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side view of a chair showing one of two casters of the form shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2 showing the caster.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary diagrammatic view of a reclining chair equipped with a lock and casters.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to that of FIG. 4, showing the chair tilted and in position to be rollable on the caster of which the roller portion is omitted to show the parts behind it.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side elevation of the lock as normally positioned.

FIG. 7 is a view looking down on the lock as positioned in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 1 a channel-shaped piece of sheet metal has its channel bottom positioned to provide a planar base 10 and parallel channel sides 12 and 14 between which is mounted a roller 16 on axle l8 fixed in the sides 12 and 14. The channel sides 12 and 14 have coplanar out-turned mounting flanges 20 and 22, with screw holes 23. The portion of the channel sides above the base 10 need not have the mounting flanges 20 and 22, these being merely exemplary of a construction adapting the caster to be mounted on a horizontal rail or other portion of a piece of furniture above the floor level.

FIG. 2 shows the base portion 24 of a piece of fumiture, such as a chair, with one of two front legs 26 and one of two coaxially alined casters 28 according to FIG. 1, fastened by screws 27 to the base portion 24, each caster having its base 10 coplanar with the bottoms: of legs 26 on the floor 30. Although the caster 28 appears in FIG. 2 as a back leg, it is to be understood that it may be a supplementary leg hidden by a normal type of chair leg.

FIG. 3 shows in detail how the caster functions. The axle 18 is spaced above the supporting plane of the base 19 by a small distance greater than the radius of the roller 16, thus normally to locate the bottom of the roller a small distance 32 above the floor 30. The edges 34 of the two casters are alined and provide the tilting edge for the piece. The axle 18 is located outside the supporting base of the chair (defined by the two caster bases 10 and the two front legs 26) and beyond the tilting edge 34 by a distance not critical, but such that in combination with the distance 32 a slight tilting of the piece on tilting edge 34 brings the rollers 16 to the floor. Then, the piece may be further tilted on the rollers 16 as a hinge and rolled with legs 26 and the caster bases It) above the floor.

Chairs are generally of two classes for the purposes of the present invention, one having immovable backs and the other having movable backs. The simplest, easiest, and most practical way to tilt a chair or to move a chair, or to move a tilted chair, is to use the back to tilt, or to push, or to tilt and push.

With a fixed chair back the casters located as described above are sufficient for rolling the chair. With a movable normally unlocked back, it is desirable to fix the back against movement in at least one direction and at a location between its extreme positions. Accordingly, for tilting and rolling such a chair on the casters hereof, auxiliary lock or stop means is required.

Any suitable lock may be provided within the scope of the present invention, but it is preferred to employ stop means to limit movement in but one direction, requiring only one operation to actuate it into stopping position, and permitting it to be rendered inoperative by moving the back in the free direction out of its stopped position.

FIG. 4 represents functional parts of a reclining chair equipped with tilting casters and a lock or stop for the movable back. Numeral 40 represents the seat base or frame of the chair, provided with front legs 42 and rear legs 44 in the form of the casters of FIG. 1. Numeral 46 represents a fixed vertical board as part of the frame 40. Numerals 48 and 50 represent a tiltable portion having, respectively, a seat frame 48 and back 50. The tiltable portion is shown in full lines in a mid-position of which the extremes are shown for the back in dotted lines as positions 50' and 50".

A stop is provided to permit use of the back for rolling the chair. As such, it is designed for foot actuation to be moved into stopping position, and to be released by merely moving the back.

FIG. 6 shows an arm 52 on a horizontal pivot 54 through a lateral projection 56 from the arm, and through a U-shaped bracket 57 secured to the frame member 46. Means is provided to bias the arm normally into a nonfunctioning position. Rather than to use a spring, the stopping end 58 on one side of the pivot 54 is heavier than the other end 60, thereby causing it normally to drop into the dotted-line position shown in FIG. 5. The end 60 has a pedal terminus 62 for operation by a foot to raise the end 58 into the path (FIG. 5) of seat frame 48 as it moves with a movement of the back 50 from position 50". Standing behind the chair and stepping on the pedal 62, one can pull backwards on back 50, thus arresting the backward movement in the position shown in FIG. 5. Then the chair may be tilted and rolled without the back tilting rearwardly beyond the position designated 50. FIG. 5 shows the chair with arrested back in a tilted position on fioor 30. The angle of arrest can be such in connection with the degree of tilt, that the chair may be rolled forwardly or backwardly. In the tilted position, one must apply vertical force F to hold the tilt and rolling force F or F". To roll forward, the forces F and F result in a force R generally alined with the extent of the back and, therefore, ineffective.to move seat frame 48 away from the stop end 58. If the rolling is in a backward direction the forces F and F" result in a force R which tends to urge the seat frame 48 more tightly against the stop end 58. When the chair is later placed on its base on the floor, releasing the rollers of casters 44 from contact with the floor, the back may be moved forward from position 50 to allow the arm end 58 to drop.

Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited to the preferred illustrative embodiments described and illustrated herein, and contemplates modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A caster for rolling a piece of furniture which normally rests non-rollingly on a floor, said caster comprising a roller, a mounting for the roller adapted to be secured to a piece of furniture, said mounting having a nor mally horizontal axle for the roller and a normally horizontal planar base for resting on a floor, said axle being spaced from the plane of said base by a distance slightly greater than the radius of the roller, whereby said roller is normally slightly spaced off the floor when said base is on the floor, said base having an edge parallel to said axle at a location laterally of the line containing said axle which line is normal to the base.

2. A caster according to claim 1 which the mounting for the roller is a channel form of sheet metal of which the channel bottom is said base and of which the channel sides house the roller on an axle mounted in said channel sides.

3. A caster comprising a roller and a mounting for said roller, said mounting providing a base for resting normally on the floor, said roller being normally above said base, and said base providing a tilting edge on which to tilt the caster and thereby to move the roller to the floor.

4. In a chair having a fixed frame and relative thereto a movable portion including a back for reclining, and having a chair base normally resting non-rollingly on a floor, said base including a portion having an edge on which said chair may be tilted, said portion being a part of the hereinafter-mentioned caster means, combined means for rolling said chair on the floor by grasping the back to tilt the chair and roll it, said means comprising in combination a movable stop to arrest backward movement of the back relative to said frame in at least one direction to permit tilting the chair backwards by handling said back, and caster means for "rolling the tilted chair, said caster means comprising a roller, mounting means for said roller secured to said frame in position to locate the bottom of said roller slightly above the plane of said chair base and at a slight distance outside of said tilting edge, whereby on tilting said chair backwards on said tilting edge as a hinge said roller contacts the floor and the chair base is lifted entirely off the floor by further tilting the chair on the roller as a hinge, thus permitting said chair to be rolled on the floor; and said movable stop comprising a portion fixed to the frame and a stopping portion stoppingly to engage said movable portion of the chair in a predetermined position thereof, whereby said chair may be rolled in at least one direction by moving the obstructed back of the tilted chair.

5. In a chair having a fixed frame and relative thereto a tiltable portion including a back for reclining, and having a chair base normally resting non-rollingly on a floor, said base including a portion having an edge on which the chair may be tilted, said portion being a part of the hereinafter-mentioned caster means, combined means for rolling said chair on the floor .by grasping the back to tilt the chair and roll it, said means comprising a movable stop to prevent backward movement of the back relative to the frame beyond a predetermined position, and caster means for rolling the chair, said caster means comprising a roller, mounting means for said roller secured to said frame in position to locate the bottom of said roller slightly above the plane of said chair base and at a slight distance outside of said tilting edge of said chair base, whereby on tilting said chair backwards on said tilting edge as a hinge said roller contacts the floor and the chair base is lifted entirely off the floor by further titlting the chair on the roller as a hinge, thus permitting said chair to be rolled on the floor; and said movable stop comprising an arm pivoted between its ends, a horizontal pivot therefor fixed relative to said frame, a heavier end of the arm out-weighing the other end and being normally positioned by gravity out of the path of said tiltable portion in its backward movement, and operationally movable into said path with said heavier end contacting said tiltable portion in .a position short of its range of backward movement, said other arm extending to the rear of the chair and being exposed as a foot-pedal for operational depression to raise the heavier arm into its said holding position, whereby said chair when tilted may be rolled by engaging the obstructed back of the titled chair, and whereby a forward movement of the back relative to said frame permits the heavier arm to drop and release the back for backward tilting relative to the frame.

6. A stop for application to a chair which has a fixed frame and a tilting portion including a back, said stop comprising a bracket to be secured to the frame, a pivot carried by said bracket to occupy a horizontal position when said bracket is secured to the frame, a pivoted arm having a lateral projection intermediate its ends, said projection pivoting on said pivot to move the arm in a vertical plane in the mounted position of the bracket, said arm and projection being heavier on one side of the pivot for moving the arm by gravity, and the other end of the arm being exposable for' operation to move the arm against gravity in position to obstruct movement of said tiltable portion of the chair in at least one direction.

7. A stop comprising in combination a mountable bracket, a pivot mounted in said bracket extending in a predetermined direction, an arm pivoting on said pivot intermediate its ends to move in a plane at right angles to said direction, the location of the pivot at the arm providing a manually operable end on one side of the pivot and a stopping end on the other side of the pivot, and means to bias the arm normally to move in one direction on said pivot.

8. A stop according to claim 7 in which said biasing means is material of the arm which is heavier on one side of the pivot than on the other.

9. In a chair having a base and a portion including a back for reclining which portion is freely, tiltable forwardly and backwardly relative to said base, movable stop means for arresting the backward tilting of the back at a predetermined position short of its range of backward movement for permitting the chair to be moved forwardly and backwardly by grasping said back, said means comprising an arm carried 'by the base and movable in a vertical plane from a normal position of rest into a position with one end thereof contacting said tiltable portion in a position to arrest the backward motion 5 thereof at said predetermined position, and means for manipulative operation to move said arm from its normal position to said arresting position.

10. A chair according to claim 9 wherein said arm is pivoted to said base intermediate its ends on an axis such that gravity moves the arm into said normal position, the other end of said arm being exposed for said operational movement thereof.

6 References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,607,050 8/1952 Binschoif 581 2,948,905 8/1960 Sevcik 5-328 3,137,511 6/1964 Weil 280-36 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

I. S. PETRIE, R. B. FARLEY, Assistant Examiners. 

3. A CASTER COMPRISING A ROLLER AND A MOUNTING FOR SAID ROLLER, SAID MOUNTING PROVIDING A BASE FOR RESTING NORMALLY ON THE FLOOR, SAID ROLLER BEING NORMALLY ABOVE SAID BASE, AND SAID BASE PROVIDING A TILTING EDGE ON WHICH TO TILT THE CASTER AND THEREBY TO MOVE THE ROLLER TO THE FLOOR. 